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I attended the 2017 CIETA conference, held at The Hermitage.  Very interesting discussions of textiles as symbols of power. The Hermitage treated us to a special exhibit of their collections ... including a display featuring garments worn by Peter the Great. His military uniform included a sprang sash.  The curator told me that the sash originally was tricolore: red, white, and blue. The fiber is silk with silver threads worked in. You can tell it is sprang, because one side features an S twist to the stitches, the other side features Z twist. There is a line at the shoulder where the S and Z meet.
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The organizers of the Intermountain Weavers Conference asked me back for this year. I taught three classes: intro to sprang, sprang lace and sprang in S&Z. The students were eager and enthusiastic. The world has a few more practitioners of sprang!  Single Circular Warp  Vertical stripes  Sprang lace  Pattern writing and pattern reading exercises Then on to the DC area, to be specific, George Washington’s Mount Vernon. I’ll gave a talk on the subject of sprang. I also handed over another replica of the Braddock sash. This time the beneficiary was Carlyle House. They will soon unveil a mannequin dressed out as Edward Braddock in his military uniform.  Carol at Mount Vernon Then on to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. They have a collection of some 200 pieces of sprang bonnets, some complete, some just little bits.  Carol at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, in Ann Arbor, Michigan Researcher Julia Galliker and I had a look at these pieces. We’re intending to compile our findings into a database (Julia has a gift for databases) and we will present this information at the Textiles of the Nile Valley Conference in Antwerp, Belgium, at the end of October.
The Saskatchewan Handweavers held a Shindig, and invited me to come, to teach sprang, and to give the Saturday evening keynote address. The drive across the prairies was a stark contrast to the sights of earlier in the year, the giant redwoods of California, and the Rockies in Colorado.  The prairies are as difficult to photograph as the mountains and the giant trees. The Saskatchewan handweavers asked me to teach a sprang class, and to give the Saturday evening Keynote address. Participants in my class were eager to learn. The organizing committee hired photographer Sparkling Medusa Creative Services, Angela Reddekopp to take photos.  Thanks to Sparkling Medusa I have a photo of me, teaching. Photo by Sparkling Medusa.
 Carol’s display table, sprang items: shawls, hats, vests, socks … Photo by Sparkling Medusa And later the next week, Jenny sent me photos of projects completed in the days following the class.
Back to the folks in California. Janet recently posted a photo of a sprang vest she made, using her handspun cotton. Well done Janet!!!!  Janet’s handspun cotton sprang vest Here I am, on a 3-city teaching tour of Colorado. Spring weather is living up to it’s reputation, sunshine, rain, snow, sleet, and then sun again.  mountain view I am teaching classes in Montrose, Boulder, and Colorado Springs.  So happy to be teaching individuals who are so adept and eager to learn. Everyone works on her own frame, creating several sample pieces. In the introductory class, we explore the basic interlinking stitch, and then some variations. You learn the basic stitch, some finishing techniques, and then how to start from ‘scratch’. My hostesses to date have been lovely. Many thanks to Bobbie, Mary, Janet, Sue, and Cheryl. I’ve been treated to a tour of Black Canyon of the Gunnison Park, and a drive through the Rockies, from Montrose to Boulder. Looking forward to a tour of the Schacht Loom factory. In-between teaching, I’ve kept myself busy working on some Coptic designs, working out the pattern, and then testing them by making sample pieces.  Red Coptic bonnet, inspired by a piece in the Kelsey Museum, 13395 I attended the Textile Society of America conference in Savannah, Georgia. The weather was warm, many interesting people, lots of information presented.  Just outside the Hyatt hotel where the TSA conference was held. Papers presented at the TSA conference will be published on-line at the University of Nebraska Press site in early 2017. Then off to Berlin, Germany. I was invited to come and participate in a project, replicating clothing from 3000 year old mummies. Read about it at http://www.bridging-eurasia.org/en/node/297  Creating a sprang belt at the German Archaeological Institute. In the end I created eight braids for them, helping to re-create the clothing of a 3000 year old horseman, the clothing ensemble that went with the world's oldest know pair of trousers. You can read more about this in their publications 
So, I’m here in New Zealand. I’ve toured around a bit. Beautiful country. Mountains, valleys, and seaside.    The beach at Piha, near Auckland  A nature preserve in an old water reservoir near Wellington.  Some Kiwis are quite serious about their chocolate. I happened upon a shop that claimed to be the Global Home of Chocolate Therapy … they did indeed have some excellent chocolate inside. I saw the place where they make the Ashford spinning wheels, and met Richard and Elizabeth. Indeed Richard made the sprang frames that students used on my whirlwind teaching tour.  Ashford Village, home of the Ashford spinning wheel I’ve taught classes in several cities, including Wellington, Mosgiel, Ashburton, and Christchurch. Spinner / weavers I’ve met here are quite interested in finger weaving and sprang, and quick to learn.  Sprang class at Gear Homestead, in the Wellington area,  Sprang Class in the Christchurch area.  Finger weaving students mastered several motifs  a stippled diagonal stripe, the saw tooth, and the chevron Thanks to Rosanne & Paul for a delightful tour of Wellington. Many thanks to my Creative Fibre hosts, Robyn, Marilyn, Anne, and a special thanks to Sue Giller, Education Co-ordinator for Creative Fibre, New Zealand.
Over the next few weeks I’ll travel to Whakatane and Taurange, and I’ll visit the good folks at Majacraft. At the end of April I’ll participate in the national fibre conference that will take place in Auckland. Back from my recent travels, to Europe, and then to the TNNA conference in Columbus, Ohio. In Columbus I met yarn store people from all across North America, what a conference! Maria Freitas of Meridan, Idaho, gave me a set of rayon threads to try in sprang.  Rayon threads from EdMar  Set up onto my sprang frame  Right off the frame, of course, it curls considerably  Block it …. that means get it good and wet, then pin it flat to dry … and it will now lie flat. Travelling again, teaching and researching in Europe. First stop Lyon where I stayed opposite the train station  view of Lyon In Lyon I had a look at the turban on the head of a mummie at the Confluence Museum.  This is an earlier attempt at replicating that mummie’s turban. I wanting to make a more exact replica. Then I went for a walk in the city park  I hear it was snowing back in Winnipeg. Off to Belgium, where my friend was waiting for me at the train station.  Frieda has taken to finger weaving like a duck to water. Frieda hosted me for the better part of a week. Together we visited the lace museum in Calais, France, the Gemeentemuseum in TheHague, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. We saw lots of sprang. Many of the items in these collections were made by Elizabeth VanReesema. Photos of these pieces are in books, but photos just do not do justice to them. Taught classes in Sint-Job-in-‘t-Goor, fingerweaving one day, sprang the next. Such a pleasure to share these techniques with people who are eager to learn.  Sprang class in Sint-Job-in-‘t-Goor  Finger weaving students admire their work.  An arrow pattern, created by a keen student Many thanks to Ina and Frieda who organized these workshops, and made everything possible.
October 2014 was spent in European travels. The impetus for the trip was the invitation to present information on sprang at the Early Textile Study Group conference in London. The topic for this year’s conference was Peter Collingwood. Dagmar Drinkler agreed to present her research on the subject of ‘tight fitting clothing in antiquity’, and I contributed my experience making leggings.
I did take the time to tour around London, spent a day on a double-decker bus.  Big Ben and the London Eye from the tour bus While in the UK, I stopped in to visit friends. First up was Oli and Erica of Weavolution. They hosted me while I taught a finger weaving class to the Cambridge Weavers.
 Members of the Cambridge weavers were very quick to pick up the technique, and master some basic patterns. Next I visited my friends Elaine and Andy. They toured me through Yorkshire, including a trip to Chatsworth House, an amazing place.  Places like Chatsworth House helps one understand Downtown Abbey. Elaine and I talked sprang, and the probability that ancient Persians and Celts work sprang clothing. Back in London, I stopped in at Alexandra Palace for the Knit and Stitch show, on Oct 9, minding a booth for The Braid Society, and gave a class on finger weaving: Weave a scarf on the train.  This is the finger woven scarf, made on the airplane and train. After the Early Textile Society conference in London, I travelled to Reading. There I was able to have a sneak preview of an amazing collection of braided pieces in the Reading Library, the Braid Society’s Biennial Exhibition.  Rosie and Helen finish up mounting the display in the Reading public library. Near Reading is the town of Aldebourne where individuals interested in diverse braiding techniques meet regularly in the local town hall. Thanks to Sally, and to my hostess Rosie, I taught another workshop there, this time finger weaving (last time was sprang).
On to the mainland of Europe. Thanks to Frieda who met me at the train station in Antwerp, Belgium. I taught classes in the Belgian town of Sint-Job-in-‘t-Goor.  Organizer and hostess Ina had some ‘braiding stands’ made up for the finger weavers. This was an ‘advanced finger weaving class’, the follow-up to a previous session. Participants explored some of the variety of patterns possible.
 lightning pattern The following day was a sprang class. Pauline brought a sprang cap that she had made after the sprang class last year.
 The advanced sprang class explored circular warp. By then it was time for a rest. My friend Karin took me home. I sat in her backyard and worked on other sprang projects.
Accepting an invitation to visit a very talented bobbin-lace weaver (this sister of a Winnipeg friend) I travelled to Braunschweig. Between discussions on the subject of bobbin-lace, finger weaving and sprang, we toured through downtown Braunschweig, and made a visit to the top of the newly rebuilt ‘Schloss’ and the Quadriega.  The “Quadriega” is on the top of the “Schloss” (castle). You get there by way of an elevator and stairs. On to the Netherlands. Braid Society member and friend, Ria toured me around the Netherlands.  Ria kept track of the train schedules, ensuring we made the connections. We had been invited to the island of Terschelling.  You get to the island of Terschelling by way of a ferry. Here’s a scene at the harbour. Resident of Terschelling, Marianne, is a very talented textile artist. She also has an amazing collection of textiles. She introduced us to the neighbourhood chickens.  Chicken neighbours eat out of Marianne’s hands. While on Terschelling, I visited the local yarn store, Tante Lies. Come to find out, I’d been volunteered to give a talk on the subject of sprang at the Tante Lies yarn store. I brought along a frame, and people were invited to give it a try. While in the Netherlands I was privileged with a visit to another Ria.  Ria is an incredibly creative person. Check out her website www.feathers-and-dragons.nl On Nov 1, I taught a sprang class in The Hague at the textile studio known as DeSpinners. Thanks to Dineke and Katia, this was a follow-up to a finger weaving class I taught last year.  Sprang workshop at DeSpinners in TheHague. What a pleasure to spread the good word about these amazing techniques to individuals interested in learning. On to the final destination, Lyon, France.  The entrance to the Greco-Roman museum in Lyon, France, is easy to miss. Look carefully and you can see the amphitheatre in the background. The Greco-Roman museum is built into the Fourviere hillside, right beside the remains of two Roman amphitheatres. If you’re in Lyon, you really should stop in, it’s a ‘must see’. The theme of the month at the Fourviere Gallo-Roman Museum in Lyon was textiles. I had been invited to give a lecture on the subject of sprang bonnets. This is the reason I’d been working on that sprang turban. Wednesday I presented a workshop for children (and their parents, grandparents) on diverse braiding techniques. Thursday I presented my lecture and workshop on the subject of sprang. I brought along several replica sprang bonnets that I have made. Sprang frames were available and seven women took the opportunity to explore the basic sprang technique. The Gallo-Roman museum had a lovely little sprang bonnet, on loan from the Textile museum.  This is a low-resolution image of the bonnet, shared with me by the curator. The fiber is a very fine (looks like sewing thread) wool. Back at home, I’m now trying to map out the pattern.  My grid pattern and sample, trying to imitate the pattern of holes. Back in Winnipeg the snow is melting slowly. Easter Monday I saw movement on the Red River for the first time this year. On my daily walk across the bridge I was mesmerised by the rapid movement of the ice, had to run home to fetch my camera.  Ice flow on the Red River I was busy preparing warps for my sprang class.  Special dyed warps hanging out to dry. Note the snow on the ground in my back yard. Two days later I was in Tucson, Arizona.  Cacti at the entrance to the Tucson airport I participated in the Arizona weavers guild event Fibers Through Time. It was a lovely event, lots of eager textile people to meet. They invited members to bring items they had made to put on display in their ‘gallery’. Wow, was that every a treat to see such high quality work! I taught a 3-day class on sprang. While in Tucson I visited the Arizona State Museum, and a famous cotton sprang shirt. Expert cotton spinner Joan Ruane accompanied me, and was I ever glad to have her along, helping me to better understand this amazing textile. And another big thanks to Joan for taking me in.  Joan lent me some cotton thread. I made up a sample, and Joan returned to the museum to photograph the sample with the original. On to Denver, where I examined sashes in the collection of the Denver Art Museum. It seems that a curator in the 1900s was very interested in these items, and they sure have a lovely collection. I found examples of sashes with interlinking, oblique interlace, arrow-and-lightning, as well as 3-3 interlace structures.
The yarn store called The Recycled Lamb hosted me for a sprang class. This is definitely a place to visit if you’re in the Denver area, and have any interest in fibers. They have a wide selection of yarns and ‘paraphernalia’ and the staff are knowledgeable and friendly. The sprang class seems to have been a success. Participants completed their initial project and launched into a second one. Check the store’s website for photos of the class. There seems to be interest for a ‘sprang study group’ that just might start up meeting regularly at The Recycled Lamb. Now on to New Mexico. I’m teaching at the Espinola Valley Fiber Arts Center. |
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